Ezekiel 29:9

And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it. THEY SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD - in antithesis to the blasphemous boast repeated here from , "The river is mine, and I have made it....

1-16 Worldly, carnal minds pride themselves in their property, forgetting that whatever we have, we received it from God, and should use it for God. Why, then, do we boast? Self is the great idol which all the world worships, in contempt of God and his sovereignty. God can force men out of that in which they are most secure and easy. Such a one, and all that cleave to him, shall perish together. Thus end men's pride, presumption, and carnal security. The Lord is against those who do harm to his people, and still more against those who lead them into sin. Egypt shall be a kingdom again, but it shall be the basest of the kingdoms; it shall have little wealth and power. History shows the complete fulfilment of this prophecy. God, not only in justice, but in wisdom and goodness to us, breaks the creature-stays on which we lean, that they may be no more our confidence....

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 29:1 IN THE TENTH YEAR, etc. The precision with which the dates of the several portions of the prophecy against Egypt are given, here and in Ezekiel 29:17; Ezekiel 30:20; Ezekiel 31:1; Ezekiel 32:1, Ezekiel 32:7, shows that each was called forth by the political events of the time, and has to be studied in connection with them. It will be well, therefore, to begin with a Brief survey of the relat

AND THE LAND OF EGYPT SHALL BE DESOLATE AND WASTE,.... Men few or none being left in it, to till it, nor cattle found upon it: AND THEY SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD; by these judgments executed upon them, now foretold; and which when come to pass, they will be obliged to acknowledge the omniscience and omnipotence of Jehovah: BECAUSE THOU HAST SAID, THE RIVER IS MINE, AND I HAVE MADE IT; Ezekiel 29:3; this insolent expression was highly resented by the Lord, as appears by the repetition of it. The Targum is here, as before, "the kingdom is mine, and I have subdued it;'' but, notwithstanding this vaunt, he could not keep it....

Ezekiel 29-30. First Egypt's desolation is announced (Ezekiel 29:1). The king of Egypt addressed in this prophecy was Pharaoh-Hophra, called in Greek, Apries. He was the grandson of Pharaoh-Necho, who defeated King Josiah at Meggido 2 Chronicles 35:20. King Zedekiah of Judah expected help and relief from Pharaoh-Hophra, when Jerusalem was besieged. The Egyptian army under Hophra advanced through Phoenicia and forced the Chaldeans to raise the siege of Jerusalem Jeremiah 37:5. But the relief was only temporary, for the Egyptian army had to retire. The prophet Jeremiah announced also the doom of Hophra, associating it with Zedekiah's doom: “Thus saith the LORD, Behold I will give Pharaoh-Hophra, King of Egypt,

EZEKIEL 29-32. ORACLE AGAINST EGYPT. Next and last to be denounced is Egypt, the great rival of Babylon, and consequently the opponent of Yahweh's purpose. The separate oracles were written either not long before (Ezekiel 29:1) or not long after (Ezekiel 32:1) the fall of Jerusalem. An Egyptian army marched to the relief of the city during the siege (Jeremiah 37:5); probably Ezekiel 29:6 is a warning of the futility of this attempt, while Ezekiel 30:21 may definitely refer to its repulse by the Babylonians....

CHAPTER FOURTEEN THE ECLIPSE OF EGYPT 29:1-32:32 In the four Chapter s devoted to Egypt Ezekiel speaks seven words from the Lord. All but one of these words are given specific dating. Why such a large section devoted to this one heathen power? Because the affairs of tiny Judah were so intertwined with that of the superpowers of the sixth century. Egypt had been very much involved in encouraging Judah's final revolt against Babylon. The main point stressed by Ezekiel and the other Hebrew prophets is that the final destiny of Israel was in the hands of God, not the hands of human monarchs. Furthermore, the prophets dared to preach what was in their day a revolutionary doctrine: even the destiny of the superpowers was determined by God and God was Yahweh! Israel might be little; but Israel's God was great to the ends of the earth. Israel appeared to be only a pawn in the hands of political...

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CROCODILE Pharaoh is compared to the crocodile of the Nile. God will drag him forth with hooks, and cast him, with the fish that stick to his scales, into the wilderness, as a punishment for his deception of Israel (Ezekiel 29:1). Egypt will be desolate for forty years (Ezekiel 29:8), after which it will be restored, but not to its former greatness (Ezekiel 29:13). Israel will no longer place a mistaken confidence in it (Ezekiel 29:16)....

EZEKIEL: “THEY SHALL KNOW THAT I AM GOD” GOD’S PLANS FOR *ISRAEL AND THE NATIONS EZEKIEL CHAPTER S 25 TO 39 _IAN MACKERVOY_ CHAPTER 29 *PROPHECY AGAINST EGYPT – EZEKIEL 29:1-16 V1 It was the 12th day of the 10th month. This was in the 10th year during our *exile. The *LORD spoke to me. V2 ‘*Son of man, look toward the king of Egypt. *Prophesy against him and against all the nation called Egypt. V3 Tell him this message: “This is what the *LORD the King says to you. I am against you, king of Egypt. You are like a great *crocodile that lies in the river. You say, ‘The River Nile is mine. I made it for myself.’ V4 But I will catch you by your mouth as a man

BECAUSE HE HATH SAID. — Again, as in Ezekiel 29:6, the division of the verses is very unfortunate. The expression “shall know that I am the Lord,” so common in Ezekiel, always closes a train of thought. The new sentence begins with the reason for the judgment upon Egypt — because of its pride....